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Nulls produce a dampening field on magic around them. For stronger Nulls, it could be up to a city block in size—for the weaker Nulls, it could be much smaller. Even low-level Nulls will interfere with magic and spells. [1]

A null's ability to redirect magic as well as dispersing it, was considered a weapon, a long time ago. Nulls used to serve as bodyguards to anybody worried about a magical assault. They brought down the wards guarding their enemies' lands, and some of the strongest stopped entire battles just by walking onto the field. But that was before the Harvesters almost wiped them out."[2]

Around the year 900, a mage figured out how to siphon away our energy, and thereby our lives, to make Null Bombs ombs capable of bringing all magic in an area to a standstill. How far and how long the effect extends depends on the strength of the null being sacrificed—the younger and more powerful they are, the more energy they have to give. After the process was discovered, it became fashionable to hunt us, especially in the vampire community, although some mages did it, too. Null harvesting, as it's politely called, was outlawed shortly after the practice began, but the law had less to do with stopping the hunts than the meager quality of the nulls remaining by the Renaissance. Harvesters ran themselves out of business by being too good at their job, not that there weren't a few enterprising types still trying.[3]

When attacked by Svarestri upon first entering Faerie, Claire pulls power from one who attacked her. He collapsed and his power entered her in an avalanche which she sent into the pavement hoping to ground it—the power instead traveled under the ground churning up the cobblestones and scattering the Svarestri attackers before blowing up a house. She and Heidar escaped.[5]